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News reports indicate that West Virginia's Department of Labor released the salaries, Social Security Numbers and other personal information of 202 dealership employees. For the full report - click here

The employees worked for the Cole Automotive Group and the dealer group is owned by Senate President Bill Cole who is also a gubernatorial candidate.

The information was obtained by a local newspaper as part of a government records request. The Department of Labor apparently had access to the subject information because the dealership has had four labor disputes filed against them. The Dealer Principal contends that the four case were filed over a period of 11 years and the total amount of money in dispute was less than $3,000.

Call me a skeptic, but I think this is a prime example of a government agency that has too much power/information that's being controlled by a group of individuals who have a political agenda.

Personally, I wish gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole much success with his campaign and I hope he wins the election and makes much needed change within the government structure in West Virginia.

When I first saw the headline I just figured it was a mistake made by some low level government employee who was fulfilling a records request.

But when I read the story I learned that the first records request received by the newspaper had the names of the employees redacted. The newspaper requested a non-redacted version and apparently the West Virginia Department of Labor consulted with their counsel and agreed to release the information.